Getting engaged again at the age of 53 wasn’t something I would have predicted 10 years ago after a sticky divorce and an unhappy follow-up relationship.
But I did recently and I have Burnaby’s cheeky Mandarin duck to thank for how it all went down.
I was quite happy just being in a relationship and COVID-19 has had me not really thinking about the future.
Health worries have made the slog through the pandemic feel not even remotely romantic. It’s hard enough to think about doing a road trip to Seattle, let alone getting down on one knee and asking someone to marry you.
As time has gone on, however, I started to feel some glimmer of hope after receiving three doses of the vaccine. I’m still uber cautious, but am feeling more optimistic about the future, despite the fact we’re in a sixth wave.
And so I bought a ring and set about making plans for how I would pop the question.
My favourite place in Burnaby is Piper Spit at Burnaby Lake. I used to ride my bike there when I was a kid growing up in North Burnaby. I did Scout activities there like learning archery. When we wrapped up a Burnaby North Secondary production of Grease in 1986, we partied there.
After becoming a father, I took my daughter there at least once a month to visit with the ducks and then I introduced this wondrous place to my new girlfriend.
It quickly became our go-to location for evening walks. She has been especially enthusiastic about spotting the Mandarin duck. We’ve only seen him once and she’s always searching around to see if him there. (This comes into play later in the story.)
With that much history, Piper Spit became the obvious choice for a proposal.
I decided to do it on a Friday afternoon because the weather was going to be sunny for the only time for another week. I made up an excuse for us to kick off work a little early so we could go and she agreed.
But then she started throwing a wrench in the plans, coming up with some urgent errands we needed to do before going to Piper Spit. A trip to Metrotown. A trip to the grocery store. And so on and so on.
I saw my plan unravelling and so I decided to do a thing you’re not supposed to do in a healthy relationship: I lied my butt off.
I told her that a friend had messaged me to say that the elusive Mandarin duck was at Piper Spit “right now” and we needed to hurry and do that first.
The ruse worked as she got ready faster than I had ever seen her get ready before.
Minutes later, we were parking and I was sweating like James Brown at the Apollo as we approached the boardwalk. My hands were shaking in as I fumbled with the ring box.
The place was packed due to the sudden sunny weather and a school pro-D day. We walked towards the end of the boardwalk when I looked down and gasped at what I saw: Burnaby Lake’s most famous resident, the Mandarin duck.
I pointed and she squealed with delight as we watched the Mandarin duck swim around with his girlfriend and put on a show with his voluminous plumage.
The excitement actually helped settle me down and I took her to the observation platform just west of the boardwalk. It was nearly empty and that’s where I finally got up the nerve to ask the question – to which she accepted. (I didn’t go down on one knee due to all of the bird poop.)
Anyways, that’s my proposal story. Thanks to the lake’s beautiful setting and the duck for helping me get it done.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
